The Big Splurge Canada Adventure

our final mission

katang — Wed, 5 Aug 2009 12:40:00 GMT

Tuesday August 4^th

Our marine day started at Ukee’s aquarium. What looked from the outside like a beachside shack turned out to be a fab exhibit: all local sea fauna caught, held for a couple of months and released back into the sea. The student guides were tremendously knowledgeable and several of the tanks were open-topped to enable us to pick up the animals. These ranged from starfish (sea stars) of all sizes and colours to anemones, sea cucumbers, transparent moon jellyfish, octopus and many types of camoflagued fish.

After this, we drove over to Tofino to Jamie’s Whaling Station for our final adventure trip of the holiday, described in the publicity as not suitable for pregnant women, those with back problems or… the incontinent! This involved us being dressed in huge padded suits on the lines of the Apollo mission and trooping down to a waiting Zodiac. This took us circling out of the harbor and then bouncing across the swell at high speed – better and wetter than any funfair ride. Porpoise swam bedside us and sea birds skimmed the water. In Cow Bay we spotted a grey whale: they spout 3 or 4 times, each time arching and swimming back down, before a final plunge to the sea bed, then re-surface 5 minutes later. After watching this for 15 minutes, we carried on further down the coast where we saw a female humpback and her calf cresting out of the water in sequence. On our return to Tofino after our 3 hour trip we passed half a dozen huge yellowish sea-lions basking on rocks. All in all a great way to spend our final day.

To those of you who’ve read, this is probably the final entry (barring a really exciting journey home!), so thanks for bearing/baring (?) with me on this first foray into the blogosphere. Don’t worry, I’ll be boring you all with the full unedited photo run in due course!

Kate

sea kayaking (a.k.a. how to cripple your forearms)

katang — Wed, 5 Aug 2009 12:36:00 GMT

Monday August 3^rd

Another early start for a day of crippling outdoor fun! We arrived at Majestic Ocean Kayaking shortly after 8 to be kitted out with lifejackets, sexy splashskirts (think black rubber tyre crossed with dangling nappy and the constrictive properties of the Playtex 18 hour girdle) and meet our guides (beach-dude local Ben and Ozzie world-travelling Nerida) and fellow kayakers (5 others – 3 locals, 2 Torontans). We boarded the van - which looked pretty much like the Scooby Doo mobile except it had a trailer with 8 canoes swinging round at the back - and set off first on the highway and then for 25 minutes bouncing along a rough gravel track that sent clouds of dust to cover the surrounding forest a ghostly white. We reached Tonquart Beach and after a quick lesson in how to board a kayak (almost gynaecological in its inelegance) and which bit of the spray skirt to pull should we exit the vessel unexpectedly, we were off.

We had a fab day paddling in Barkley Sound, a large sea estuary dotted with islands. It was a little overcast but visibility was fine and we spotted 10” diameter starfish, oyster beds and shoals of fish swimming below; lots of bald eagle, including one juvenile close-up; various seals. We did a mix of paddling quietly along the shoreline and longer stretches across more open water (which I personally found completely knackering!). Our trip included a fab build-your-own bagel picnic lunch on David Island (complete with detailed instruction on peeing only in the intertidal zone) and the best cookie in the world before winding our way slowly back to Torquart Beach.

On the bounce back to town we all nodded off and when we arrived I found my hands and forearms to be on the verge of muscular breakdown! This all necessitated a hot bath, a piece of apple pie and a couple of hours on the sofa.

After this we popped into the village to book our next dose of adrenalin rush for tomorrow – incredibly and sadly the final day of our trip – and to go out for a great dinner of local seafood at the Driftwood Restaurant. In a one horse town like Ukee, there are nevertheless plenty of places to eat, but this one had a reservation list and queues like Madrid’s best. After reserving, strolling and returning we sat down to a steaming cup of fab chowder (including salmon, clams, cod, shrimp & scallops), an aromatic fish curry and a great seafood platter with coconut breaded king prawns, excellent crabcakes and a slab of salmon. We may well be back tomorrow!

in the tsunami zone

katang — Tue, 4 Aug 2009 00:14:00 GMT

Sunday August 2^nd

Rhona, Angus and I headed off on the Wild Pacific trail early this morning: great sea views, with mist rolling through wooded offshore islands, black sand beaches covered with driftwood and weirdly weathered trees arching and snaking inland. With bear, elk and avalanche warnings now commonplace, today’s roadsigns cheerfully informed us that we were in a Tsunami zone. People come here precisely to watch the savage winter storms and this coastline has seen more shipwrecks than you’ve had hot dinners. A beautiful start to the day!

Fortified by cinnamon and raisin toast with – you’ve guessed – maple syrup, we headed off through the Pacific Rim National Park to Tofino, home to whale watchers, surfers and more souvenir shops than Carnaby Street. The weather changed by the minute – threads of mist pouring off the sea and bringing a cold chill one minute, sun pouring in to burn off the mist and reveal beautiful wooded islands in the bay the next. We spent a very pleasant time wandering the shore, eating fish and chips, visiting art galleries and doing some essential souvenir shopping.

On our return we stopped off at the Tofino Botanical Gardens, a splendid mix with everything from vegetable gardens, gazebos and frog ponds; birdhides overlooking mudflats and boardwalks through the rainforest.

and so to the island

katang — Tue, 4 Aug 2009 00:12:00 GMT

Saturday August 1^st

We started the new month back in a hot and humid Vancouver currently suffering from several forest fires in surrounding areas. We took a taxi out to the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal in North Vancouver, seemingly along with half the city who were heading out for the holiday weekend. Fortunately as foot passengers we managed to get tickets for immediate departure and by 11 we were heading out from the Vancouver coast on a gorgeous sunny day though with a strong sea breeze. We sat out on deck as the ferry passed the nearby islands and really enjoyed the 90 minute crossing to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.

At Budget car rentals they cheerily informed me that we’d had a free upgrade. Great I thought. Then we went out into the carpark and I saw it. Oh dear I thought on seeing a vast shiny hearse of a car – for the informed among you, “the tank” is a brand-new Lincoln Towncar. To the uninformed, think Batmobile. This car retails at 60,000$ (around 45,000€ or 4 times the value of our Ford Focus) and includes such features as heated seats, rear-parking aid and a driver’s seat which electrically shunts you into position when you put the key in the ignition and reverses you to a comfortable car exiting position when you take it out. The bonnet is about 2 metres long and is the first car I’ve ever driven in my life to have a metal ornament sticking up at the front of it. If the car in the Rockies made me quake, this one nearly caused me to soil the leather upholstery as we navigated the tank through downtown Nanaimo. 40km on I was still white-knuckling the walnut steering wheel and the family –who’d initially greeted the Starsky-and-Hutch-mobile with cries of “Awsie” and “Cool”- were all cowering in their seats wishing we’d got a Nissan.

We stopped off at Cathedral Grove to admire the amazing forest, but I was too freaked at the thought of having to reverse out of the car park and the girls were too afraid of their mother’s fear to be able to enjoy the experience.

Reversing accomplished we drove on to Port Alberni, where food once again worked wonders and by the time we’d finished the 120km coast to coast drive, we were actually able to put the radio on without me screaming at anyone.

We arrived in a misty, somewhat chilly Ucluelet and our last accommodation of the trip: Hana House, a comfortable split-level apartment with its own kitchen and a large living room.

Ucluelet (or Ukee to the locals) is to Tofino what Jasper is to Banff- a slightly quieter, more laid back version. It sits on a peninsula and is consequently surrounded by bays and coves with thick temperate rainforest all around.

sunwapta to the great Canadian railroad

katang — Tue, 4 Aug 2009 00:10:00 GMT

Friday July 31^st

We were up and out early and made it to Sunwapta Falls a little after 8.30. These were impressive but nothing compared to the Athabasca Falls a few miles north: surging grey water pounding downward with so much spray that at one point we could see a double rainbow over the water.

We headed on toward Jasper up Highway 93A again avoiding the main traffic for more scenic views and a pothole enriched driving surface. We made it in good time to turn in the car, have lunch and check in our luggage before The Canadian arrived. Less novelty and more daytime journeying meant the girls got bored a bit sooner, but soon turned into the official entertainers of all the smaller children in our carriage. Again we passed the time watching the view from the glass-topped dome-car, listening to music, reading and just enjoying some enforced relaxation time. We ate dinner on the train and then Angus and I crashed out while Rhona and Maya fostered Anglo-Canadian relations with some “hotties” in the dome-car before returning to their drooling, snoring parents. We snuggled down under our Canadian blankets and slept as best we could, though the logic of the train stopping for an hour and half because it’s got into a station early makes me wonder at the efficacy of VIA Rail’s timetabling.

last lake?

katang — Tue, 4 Aug 2009 00:07:00 GMT

Thursday July 30^th

We packed up and left the Y and Banff, driving out of town on the old highway, overlooked by the incredible craggy heights of Castle Mountain and with interesting infoboards about the planned forest burn of 1993 which served to regenerate the forest and ensure growth of different ages in the face of over-effective modern fire protection.

We carried on past the over-popular Lake Louise and onto the sinuous Moraine Lake road. The roadsides were a blaze of wildflowers and at the lake the parking lot was full of visitors but once we started out on the Consolation Lake trail things soon improved. This trail was not for the faint-hearted: a sign at the trailhead informs you that you’re only allowed to walk in compact groups of four or more in the berry season when passing grizzlies head onto the trail to snaffle up to 250,000 berries a day. And the berry season is of course just now! A Dutch couple tagged along with us for safety and together we spotted various piles of bear dung and some heavily scratched treebark. The trail crossed a huge glacial moraine and then wound along through woodland alongside Babel Creek until it suddenly emerged at Consolation Lake: greenish blue water ringed by a rocky shoreline and surrounded on all sides by steep scree-covered sloped rising to mountains above. A better place for a picnic would be hard to find and striped ground squirrels were on hand to hoover up any crumbs we left behind. The girls had a great time scrambling on the rocks (amazingly Maya did not fall in!) and ended up drawing in the sun while Angus and I just sat and drank in the scenery.

We returned to the main tourist sight, Moraine Lake itself. The colour is simply amazing: think of one of those 1960s postcards of the Riviera and remember the intense touched-up turquoise of the water? Well Moraine Lake is that colour but without the interference of Photoshop. Incredible.

We drove back to Lake Louise to have ice cream and snap up a few must-have items (including a little late in the day a bear bell to attach to the rucksack to ward off future oursine encounters) and then set off on the 150km journey back up the Icefield Parkway – or so we thought. A major traffic accident had taken place and the road was closed. If this happened in Britain you’d forget the motorway and switch to the A-road, or at worst take an annoying detour, but the Icefields Parkway is quite simply the only road running north through the Canadian Rockies. If it closes you wait. And of course a road accident 60km from a smallish town and 100km from the nearest hospital and emergency services takes some time to deal with. At one stage we were told the road could be closed for anything up to 8 hours. After 4 hours and increasing drizzle, the delights of the carpark at Lake Louise were starting to pall, but in the end we heard that the road was open to alternating traffic so we set off. Fortunately for us, there was far less traffic moving south-north than the other way round and we only had a 10 minute wait at the single lane stretch.

We missed the views and as the drizzle continued and darkness fell it was a little scary driving along waiting for an elk to run out in front of the car, but we eventually made it to our motel in Sunwapta a little after 11and all had a great night’s sleep.

last day in B-town

katang — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:51:00 GMT

Wednesday July 29^th

Angus and I left the girls to sleep and wandered off in search of the recommended Wild Flour bakery where we bought some evil almond croissants for breakfast. With kids in tow, we set off for the local bike hire shop and then out of town along Vermillion Lake Road. In fact there are 3 interconnecting lakes and we saw a couple of hawks, a bald eagle and Canada’s national bird, the loon (a large black and white waterbird) as well as numerous ground squirrels. We then cycled back through town, across Bow River and out on the Sundance Trail. By now the clouds had cleared and the sun was out again, so we picnicked (while catching up with the news in the Calgary Herald) and then headed back into town for a bit of retail therapy.

OK, I’m not sure when we’ll get internet access again: tomorrow we’re off back up the Icefields Parkway, stopping for a night at Sunwapta and then back onto the train to Vancouver. If we get a connection on Vancouver Island, I’ll keep you posted on the last stage of our trip, but if not, I’ll post it all when we get back to Madrid.

white knuckle rafting

katang — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:46:00 GMT

Tuesday July 28^th

This was the white knuckle day for me: persuaded by the family that a Grade 1-2 rafting trip just wasn’t worth the bother, we’d signed up for a Grade 3-4, so at 7.45 we were whisked off by a stoned New Zealander in a yellow all-American school bus and by 9.15 I was standing outside a hut near the Kananakis river with a bunch of other hapless tourists, clad in my first ever wetsuit (all those pancakes and maple syrup coming back to haunt me), squelching in bootees still damp inside from the previous raftee (yuk!) and trying to get my helmet and lifejacket to fit. We’d previously signed a waiver, preventing us from suing on pretty much any grounds whatsoever which had spelt out in grim detail all the ways this fun pursuit could maul, maim and kill us. However the guides – a mix of Canadians, Kiwis and Ozzies – carefully walked the tightrope between coming across as a bunch of dreadlocked hippies, jollying everyone along and actually knowing an awful lot about their sport and safety. 8 to a boat, we were given useful tips such as what to do if you fall into the river, how to haul someone back onto the raft without strangling them and all manner of codewords and instructions for various life-threatening scenaria. Once on the water, though, it was brilliant fun: we navigated (or rather our guide steered and we paddled lamely when told) through various Grade 3+ whirlpools and rapids, we had a couple of water fights against those in other rafts and Angus and the girls (but not wimpy ol’ me) took the optional jump into the river from a 7 metre cliff. We squelched back, wet and happy and, in dry clothes and fortified by hot chocolate, dozed our way on the bus back to Banff. Unfortunately no photographic evidence exists of the whole thing, though given that I was winkled into a wetsuite, that's maybe no bad thing!

After lunch (well all that adrenalin output sure builds up a hunger) we crashed out for a bit and then in the evening went on a wildlife tour. We didn’t actually see any more animals then we’d seen previously on the trip – quite a few elk, some ground squirrels and one young black bear, but our French Canadian guide was very knowledgeable and gave us loads of background on the national park and the animals that live here.

in the land of moss and mozzies

katang — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:43:00 GMT

Monday July 27^th

After another pancake breakfast the girls went to the park and Angus and I visited the Buffalo Nations Museum. A bit of a tacky tribute to the First Nations (don’t think about calling them Indians) it was nonetheless a very interesting insight into various aspects of native culture: did you know that babies were carried in bags filled with moss which acted as natural nappies and were then simply emptied and filled with fresh moss; or that many traditional decorations (belts, necklaces etc) were made with dyed and braided porcupine quills?

We visited Safeway (never before have I seen peanut butter in 2 kilo jars –that explains a lot!) and went off for a picnic, but our first drizzle and the second battalion of Barclay Pickering detecting mosquitoes drove us out of the woods and back to the Y. After a lazy slump we took ourselves off to the Banff Hot Springs, not quite on a par with the Miette Springs at Jasper but a good way to spend an afternoon. By evening, the rain had set in and for the first time it seemed like we had actually brought those cagoules and fleeces for a reason, so we stayed put and ate dinner at the Y.

and so to Banff

katang — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:24:00 GMT

Sunday July 26^th

Regretfully we left the hostel and headed south. Our first stop, based only on the briefest of mentions in the guidebook, was at Mistaya Canyon. A short walk brought us out to a bridge over rapids, but walking upstream we were able to see the incredible power of the surging water, sculpting its twisting route down the canyon.

We drove on and shortly came to one of the most popular sites on the Parkway, Peyto Lake. The cars and initial crowds were reminiscent of Puerta del Sol in the run-up to Christmas, but just as in Europe there are always tourists who will plump for opening their thermos and Mr Kiplings mere seconds from the car park (if not in it), so here 95% of the visitors limited their visit to the nearest viewpoint. Those of us with functioning legs made it a little further uphill and were rewarded with stunning views of one of the most photographed lakes in the Rockies.

Lunch at Lake Louise was followed by the rest of the drive to Banff and the first rain of our trip. We checked in at the Y Mountain Lodge and Angus and I took a short stroll to the nearby Bow River falls. If Jasper is a delightfully one-horse town in which the arrival of a train is a major event (albeit one which can delay you at a level crossing for a full 10 minutes as the good cars trundle past), Banff is the bright lights. A full 8 blocks of shops and entertainment, though a little too much globalization perchance (I didn’t cross the world to see McDonalds and the Body Shop!). However we dodged the 2 foot high ceramic wolves and souvenir moose heads and found a great Sri Lankan fast food joint for dinner.

on the ice and up the creek

katang — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:18:00 GMT

We slunk guiltily to the car (while our fellow hostellers loaded their worldly goods into their panniers and set off for 100km of mountainous cycling) and headed off to the Icefield Centre and the Athabasca glacier. Here you take a shuttle bus and then a Snocoach – a vehicle with metre wide wheels specially designed for travelling on the ice. Each one costs 1,3million $ and there are only 28 in the world of which 27 are here on the Columbia Icefield. The icefield is a huge glacier extending over a range of mountains, which is moving slowly downhill and eventually feeds into the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The tourbuses roll in and you do wonder about the environmental ethics of walking on the glacier, but it is all tightly controlled by the national parks and standing on a glacier is a breathtaking experience. As is putting your foot 8” down a hole into the glacial water as both Maya and I discovered.

Nearby we hiked up to Parker Ridge, a trail which zigzags up the mountain for about an hour. The girls pleaded lethargy and adolescence and were happier playing Nintendo in the car but there’s only so many times you can cajole people to experience the trip of a lifetime and anyway a couple of hours peace on a mountain top is a wonderful, restorative thing. The alpine wildflowers were incredible but nothing beat the final scramble up the ridge when another set of mountains suddenly appeared the far side and we realized that we were surrounded by 360º of snowy peaks. As we descended a car alarm went off way below and we exchanged bets on the probability of it having been set off by our dear daughters. Yup, you’re right! Back in the car, we left Nature to reinstall her earplugs and set off on the Parkway again, soon spotting our first black bear scavenging along the roadside.

We headed back to our hostel, but stopped for an hour to follow a woodland track to a bridge over the Saskatchewan river – here broad, aqua coloured and furious. Back at the hostel, it just had to be a sauna and dip in the creek to finish off the day.

best place to stay in Canada: it's official

katang — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:13:00 GMT

Friday July 24^th

Rhona’s been running a temperature with a sore throat for 3 days and as we’re heading out of civilization and didn’t fancy taking a swine flu victim with us (ok, we were actually more concerned it was her usual tonsillitis) I took her off to the $100 a visit local doctor (here’s hoping the medical insurance pays up as readily as it claimed before we purchased!). Needless to say, the doctor was English and his sister lives in Madrid, so the illusion of being on the other side of the world was somewhat shaken.

Penicillin in hand, we left town, driving down the beautiful Maligne Lake Road for some 38km of breathtaking views, lakes and pausing for the occasional deer. We did the Moose Lake trail, singing loudly to ward off passing bear and caribou, but it was not until Angus, Maya and I were on the water, canoeing with great élan down the vast Maligne Lake that we had one of those “Oh my God we’re in Canada” moments, spotting a young moose grazing along the shoreline.

After picnicking, we drove back to Jasper (last petrol for 158km which is not something you say often in Europe) and set off into the National Park itself along the Icefield Parkway. This route, which crosses 2 national parks, is the only road connection between Jasper and Banff some 250km to the south-east. National Geographic classed it in the top 10 world drives and for good reason: mile upon mile of mountains on either side and startling turquoise lakes (turquoise due to rock flour, a type of fine sediment).

The attractions of nature were not enough to calm the bickering Barclay Pickering sisters, but harmony was restored when we arrived at our home for the next 2 nights. When sorting the accommodation for the trip, I’d try to include a variety of different styles and the girls were somewhat dubious at the prospect of this wilderness hostel: shared bunkroom, no showers, no flush toilets in the middle of nowhere. However, nowhere just happened to be a forest surrounded by mountains, cosy log cabins, a warm comfortable communal kitchen and sitting room, a campfire pit where mice and ground squirrels scampered and braver travellers (who’d all hiked or cycled in) exchanged tales of cougar sightings, techniques for avoiding bear attacks while backwoods camping and details of their latest ice climbs. Who needs showers when you have a wood-fired sauna to steam off the dirt and your own private white water creek in which to plunge when you’ve built up a sweat. The consensus was that this communal, telly- and flush- free hostel was the best stay of the trip.

and for the same price as my municipal pool...

katang — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:11:00 GMT

After a good night’s sleep we headed off out on Highway 16 to the N-E of Jasper. The views never cease to amaze: vast mountains, turquoise lakes, endless forests interspersed with emergency stops to avoid the deer and wild sheep which wander all over the road. We turned off the highway at Pocahontas (I kid you not) and drove up the valley past 350 million year old limestone rock faces and up to Miette Hot Springs. Here sulphur rich water pounds out of the ground from 3km below at a steady 54ºC. I’ll leave you to imagine the smell. We went for a hike up the valley –amazing wildflowers and butterflies- and then back to the springs. There are 4 pools: 2 hot ones from 30 – 40ºC and 2 cold ones at around 10ºC. Lying back in the bath-warm water gazing up at the pine-forested slopes around rejuvenated our train-weary limbs while plunging into the cold pool supposedly worked wonders on our circulation but certainly brought me close to cardiac arrest. Relaxing in this pool when the mountains are covered in snow must be incredible.

We picnicked, chasing off marauding squirrels and deer (which you are not supposed to feed) and then drove back to town.

Later in the afternoon, Angus and I rented bikes and abandoning the slothful ones, took off on the Athabasca River Valley Loop, a trail alongside the river and round Lakes Annette and Edith. We whizzed past the Jasper golf resort (a different world from the backpackers on the main drag) and came back feeling so virtuous that we just had to go for pizza on the rooftop café of Jasper’s Pizzas. Driving back at dusk, we spotted – as you do – an elk sauntering down the pavement not 50m from our B & B.

of trains and cars

katang — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:07:00 GMT

We woke around 6 at the train’s first stop in Kamloops. At least the first stop for passengers. The Canadian in fact stopped frequently to let vast freight trains pass – the kind of vast where you start counting the wagons and give up and go off for a coffee when you get up to 60. The views were amazing: mile upon mile of forest, mountain, lake and river. We had breakfast on the train, watched the view from the glass ceilinged observation car, the girls befriended 2 boys from Edmonton and engaged in wireless Nintendo contests, we had lunch. All the time the scenery rolled on. They obligingly slowed the train to photo-speed as we passed waterfalls and we were treated to a view of the snow-capped summit of Mount Robson – highest mountain in the Rockies – which is only visible 12 – 14 days a year. And then at last we were in Jasper.

Though one of the major towns in the Canadian Rockies, Jasper only consists of 2 main streets surrounded by some very pleasant residential roads. On all sides the town is surrounded by vast mountains. At 28ºC in the summer it’s all very blue and green, but in winter this place must be seriously cold and bleak.

Our arrival also meant it was time for me to start driving. Having last driven an automatic 16 years ago this was no laughing matter. In fact laughing, speaking or breathing on the part of the car’s passengers was seriously unrecommendable. Things got a little easier once I remembered that you only actually have to use one foot and that having one on the accelerator and one on the brake at the same time is not actually a requirement and leads to rather too much forehead-windshield contact when you stop. So long as you basically imagine you are driving a bumper car at the fun-fair, working an automatic is pretty straightforward, but driving in one with me during those first few kilometers definitely carries a health warning.

Nonetheless we soon found our B & B, had a pleasant stroll among the backstreets of Jasper (bear-proof bins, elk-proof netting on the local baseball diamond) and an enjoyable evening meal at a local Greek restaurant.

on the move

katang — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:04:00 GMT

OK guys, after a few days without internet, here's a few updates !

Our last day in Vancouver started at the girls’ request with us hitting the shops. One of the delights of foreign travel to me are the simple but strangely different things of everyday life: street signs, food shopping, public transport, but I can’t quite fathom the attraction of visiting the same globalised chains you can go to in London, Madrid or even Poole. But hey, I’m not 12 or 14 with money to burn and an image to think of. I managed to get through the experience fortified by maple syrup fudge (I’ve already pre-booked a seat for each of my buttocks for our return flight) and then the girls were forced to trail round the splendid Mountain Equipment Co-op after us. 16 years ago, this shop had us in ecstasies: the Brits among you can think genetically modified Millets; I recall the pre-Beckham shock of all the male shop assistants wandering round in sarongs and them urging us to “try a little fleece” which in those long ago days sent me in search of some sheep-shearings. Now, with 4 branches of Decathlon surrounding Madrid, we were a bit more blasé but it’s still a great place to visit.

After lunch we headed up to the Queen Elizabeth park for a nap and then a quick 9 holes on the pitch and putt. Back to the hotel to pick up our cases and then on to the VIA Rail station. Here they informed us that while our outward journey to the Rockies was leaving as scheduled, our return trip was likely to be cancelled as a result of a threatened railworkers strike. Joy! So if we don’t turn up on the date you expect to see us next we may still be in Jasper.

The Canadian is a splendid train service: four days a week (when not on strike) it crosses the country from coast to coast. And remember this is a big country: the full trip takes around 4 days and crosses 4 time zones. Our small stretch took a mere 19 hours. It took most of these to walk along the platform from the station to Comfort Class where we were seated. The train is incredibly long and – presumably in fear of derailment at every bend – never seems to travel much over 40mph. Makes the AVE look like science fiction. However, it was pretty comfortable, if a little over air-conditioned and the views are incredible. Provided with pillows and blankets, we reclined and slept –ish.

Grouse Mountain

katang — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:30:00 GMT

Amazing the bribery power of a stack of pancakes and maple syrup to get a sleepy 12 year old out of bed. After another great breakfast at Ricky’s we waddled our way down to the SkyTrain and again headed off to North Vancouver. Our destination today was Grouse Mountain, a cable car ride to the best view over the city and coastline and soon to be home to some of the 2010 Olympic skiing and snowboarding events. Up at the top we took a ski lift even higher up, saw a couple of grizzly bears at the animal refuge, watched a beautifully choreographed but actually very entertaining lumberjack show and saw a display of birds of prey.

Our daily maple syrup intake was topped up by a maple walnut ice cream which means we’ll soon join the customers of the SuperScooter “ideal for the elderly, otherly abled or larger sized persons” which I’ve just seen advertised.

chinese or fish & chips?

katang — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:28:00 GMT

Angus and I decided to leave the girls to have a lie-in and doubled our consequent dose of peace and tranquility by taking ourselves off to the traditional Chinese garden nearby. Like something off a willow-pattern plate, it formed an oasis of calm against the backdrop of city skyscrapers.

With well-rested, muffin-fed children in tow, we headed into the heart of downtown to the Bill Reid gallery. Bill – a half Haida-half European native of Victoria, was a broadcaster on CBC with little knowledge of his First Nations roots until his early 30s when he started training as a goldsmith. From here he moved to produce works drawing on traditional Haida abstractions of animal figures working both on the delicate and intricate scale of jewelry and also making large wooden sculptures, traditionally designed canoes and paddles and huge totem poles. Angus and I had seen and loved his work on our previous trip both in Vancouver and on Haida Gwaii (the Queen Charlotte islands), but this new gallery provided a fascinating background to his work which all 4 of us enjoyed.

After all that culture, we’d earned some more calories, so we caught the bus to Granville Island and the much recommended Go Fish, an unimpressive-looking shack on the waterfront which manages to serve up the best fish and chips I’ve ever eaten. We took a stroll round Granville Island market, the nearby Kids’ Market and then headed to a nearby water park. This brilliant invention consists of huge showers, water jets, manoeverable hydrants and a water chute, all for free in the middle of a city park. The weather in Canada 10 days before our trip led us to pack for 15ºC and cloudy. Since our arrival it’s been in the late 20s and we’ve been in shorts daily (no complaints) so the girls were both quick to get drenched.

Our evening’s entertainment took us downtown to the Cineplex for the latest Harry Potter.

Transports of delight

katang — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:17:00 GMT

Another early start and down for our first muffin fest. Why do the British stick to choc chip when you can have blueberry muesli, cranberry ‘n’ bran or my personal favourite to date, zucchini, carrot & walnut? Today was public transport day. The names attest to what can only be the Germanic origins of an erstwhile transport chief: you don’t get the metro or step on the ferry, but board the Skytrain (even though all the bits we’ve been on are firmly underground) and cross Burrard Inlet on a Seabus. Sadly he was swept off to the local asylum before taking things to the ultimate conclusion of Roadbike and Sidewalkfoot but I’m sure those were in his mind.

After Skytrain, Seabus and , well just bus, we arrived at Capilano suspension bridge, a huge swaying , vertigo-inducing footbridge spanning the Capilano canyon. A series of boardwalk trails high in the immense Douglas firs bring in some spectacular views making trees in Europe look like saplings and those in their mid 40s look like gaping mouthed cretins with permanently cricked necks (14 year olds you’ll be relieved to hear are immune to the hazards of such uncool behaviour so long as safely plugged into their iPods).

After this we decided to dodge the crowds for a bit and took a walk through a nearby forest. Ah the joys of foreign travel: instead of a polite board indicating “Chinook trail”, reminding you to “Take your litter home” or even giving the proximity to the nearest Pay & Display carpark, here your walk is given a cheering start by a large yellow sign stating “Bears in this area”. We’ve read our “Bear drill”(back submissively away, no eye contact, don’t try to outrun them or climb trees –something of a relief to one who passed years in gym class unable to shin up a pole or whizz down a rope – but if attacked at night, fight back with all your might because they’ve sense you out as a food source) but believe me every twig crack has you jumping out of your puny pink skin when you’re a walking (not running or climbing) snack. We ended up at a salmon hatchery and saw a few, though sadly none jumping up the ladder, but the views up the twisting river gorge were breath-taking: nothing can quite prepare you for a bald eagle swooping along the canyon as you bite into your ham roll.

In the evening we took a short walk from the hotel to the city’s Chinatown. Vancouver is a very culturally diverse city but by far the largest non-European ethnic group are the Chinese with many third, fourth & fifth generation migrants. Nonetheless, the city’s Chinatown is a splendid contrast: everything in 2 languages, low-rise buildings with a predominance of red on the facades and market stalls in which I could name less than 50% of the produce. Our nearest supermarket is Chinese and boasts aisles incongruously mixing 94 types of soy sauce with Spam and peanut butter. Our visit coincided with the weekend night market and we spent a happy hour wandering the streets, sampling dim sum and dumplings.

We're here!

katang — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 12:05:00 GMT

Thursday July 16^th

Well, the big day finally came. Unfortunately it started off in Terminal Four which is one of those places that looks great in some architectural coffee table book but is hopeless if you actually want to check in and fly off somewhere. Needless to say this culminated in me on the verge of a “nervy b” as Rhona so subtly described it, but in the end we made it to the plane and the unfettered bliss of being surrounded by 30 Spanish teenagers all heading off to study English in the UK. Now we were already travelling with one moody, nervous , excited teen, so multiplying this 30 fold was just heaven, but it’s amazing what the numbing effects of gin can do.

We passed through Heathrow unscathed and so to the girls’ first intercontinental flight. It’s amazing how much excitement those of us who are frequent flyers with EasyJet can derive from being provided with blanket, flight socks and a miniature toothbrush, meals delivered in a dozen plastic containers and unlimited amounts of free alcohol. Best of all was the individual in-flight DVD and for Maya the realization that as long as she kept quiet and didn’t wriggle no one was going to stop her watching 4 films back-to-back. We took off at 5.30pm, the 9 hour flight passed with relative ease and at 6.30pm we were in Vancouver.

Our Punjabi-only taxi driver brought us downtown to our hotel – the YWCA hotel on Beatty Street a stone’s throw from BC Place – home to the BC Lions Canadian football team and walking distance to Gastown and Chinatown. We set off to tour the neighbourhood and ended up eating dinner in Rosie’s, a nearby diner. The waiter, Josh, was incredibly attentive – if unintelligible - the Vancouver accent sounding like American English with Swedish intonation grafted on. The service here is great, but the minimum 15% tipping comes as something of a surprise after Madrid where Spanish friends restrain you if you try to leave anything more than 10 cents. Here, the bill comes thoughtfully furnished with the total amounts you should leave depending on whether you want to leave 15, 18 or 20%.

Friday July 17^th

Despite having only 2 hours sleep in 24 hours, jet lag came knocking for me at 2am and by 7 even the Sloth Sisters were up and raring to go. They were of course encouraged to get going by the prospect of our first Canadian breakfast at Ricky’s diner: eggs, sausage, bacon and toast alongside pancakes and gallons of maple syrup, the cholesterol and calorific excess of which was evidenced in the girths of our fellow diners.

Our consciences were clear though: after eating enough to transform Operación Bikini into Operación Kaftan, we were off to the bike hire shop at the entrance to Stanley Park. We set off on the 10k trail round the seawall on the park’s perimeter: fantastic views of Vancouver, totem poles and then out to the Pacific. The weather was fantastic and on Second Beach Maya, the veteran beachcomber, soon had 4 crabs and a dead fish laid out on a rock like some primeval offering to the gods. We turned inland through the temperate rain forest in the centre of the island, to Beaver Lake covered in pink water lilies. We spotted our first raccoon and then headed off for Vancouver Aquarium.

The exhibits were incredible with all kinds of sharks, jellyfish, rays and sea urchins; seals, Beluga whales and a dolphin show; sloths, parrots and huge butterflies in the tropical area and a fantastic 4D projection where as well as wearing 3D glasses, we sat in chairs which buzzed, vibrated, poked you in the back, sprayed you with water and blew ocean breezes at you while we watched a film on the shallow seas.

One week to go

katang — Wed, 8 Jul 2009 09:00:00 GMT

My last week at work! The girls are still away in the land of rock climbing and canoeing, supposedly bivouacing tonight which no doubt means they'll return scarred from head to toe in mosquito bites. After rejoicing in their absence for the first week, I'm now starting to miss them (though Angus - a.k.a. hopalong -read on) reckons that'll wear off by about 2pm Saturday (we collect them at 1).

Long John Barclay and I were out at Ceni last weekend: saturday was a little "varied". The day started with me being breathalysed outside Sotillo -I guess I was one of the few people who's just got out of bed at 8.55 on a Saturday morning, while the rest of the world is weaving home from a long night out. I shook like a leaf remembering the previous night's gin and wine, but was pronounced "cero cero" and fit to drive (which shows he's never seen me attempt to park in the centre of madrid). We then had a very plesant 3 hour hike in the hills to the Majalobos river, unfortunately culminating in Mr B spraining his ankle. We carried on with the day, cooling off at a nearby pool and going on to lunch at a restaurant run by one or our teachers' parents - to eat a fab 3 courser for 15€ & be treated like royalty, but by evening the ankle was definitely swollen so first thing Sunday morning we were off to Cadalso medical centre and since then... well we all know what men are like as (im)patients.

On the holiday prep front, we now have insurance (hooray!), new cagoules (super sexy -not!), a not very appetising destination temperature of between 10 & 18ºC and a day kayaking trip booked which promises sightings of eagles, bears, seals and whales and guarantees that I won't be able to even lift a beer the following day.

That's it for now.